2021 WESSA Annual Review

The last 12 months have allowed us to also reflect on the role that tourism plays to protect our natural areas and create ambassadors for protection of our natural world. We have seen a number of national parks and reserves suffer drastic decreases in income with the drop in tourismwhich has called into question the importance of this single line of funding for nature conservation. Some points for consideration for our organization now are how we can play a bigger part in building more diverse and resilient forms of income or funding for our natural spaces. We also need to do more to get those that live within close proximity to wildlife, and who pay the real cost of conservation, to benefit more from these places in a way that provides an acceptable standard of living and progress for them.

Our unit is looking at expanding our scope into the fields of community conservation, new strategies for protected area planning and the role of the wildlife economy in South Africa.

Annual Review 2020-2021

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